Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 15, 1894.
When her parents passed away when she was a little child, she and her six siblings made a living by performing on street corners.
She started off touring and performing with a group that also featured Ma Rainey before going it alone. Her lucrative recording career with Columbia Records began in 1923, but an automobile accident that claimed her life at the age of 43 ended her singing career.
What is Bessie Smith most famous for?
The Jazz Age saw the rise to fame of American blues singer Bessie Smith. She was referred to as the “Empress of the Blues” and was the most well-known female blues performer of the 1930s.
She was one of the greatest singers of her day and was a significant impact on other blues singers as well as jazz vocalists. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
Smith began organizing her own performance at Atlanta’s “81” Theater in 1913. By 1920, she had established a reputation for herself in the South and on the East Coast.
Sales of “Crazy Blues,” a song for Okeh Records with vocalist Mamie Smith (not related), which at the time exceeded 100,000 copies sold, suggested a new market.
Despite the fact that the recording industry had not previously targeted black people with its wares, the success of the song sparked a search for female blues singers.
